Breaking Bread For 1.26.23

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Scripture

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.

Proverbs 16:6

Reflection

How much clearer can this be?

As long as we are loving and faithful to God, His plan, His Kingdom, His Son, and His creations— our sins are atoned. It’s not one or the other; it’s both. The connecting word is “and,” not “or.” They’re a packaged deal, wrapped together to conquer the power that sin seems to possess over us.

Let’s look closer at how we demonstrate this love and faithfulness.

By respecting God and honoring our relationship with Him, driven by a need to not disappoint Him and strain that relationship, we make choices built on love and faithfulness. We respect Him by listening to and obeying Him over all others and trusting Him in all circumstances. We honor our relationship with Him by not choosing another over it and by representing what we have with Him as valuable and priceless. Plainly put, we don’t cheat on Him with someone or something else.

Let’s look at the rest of line 6. It mentions fear of the LORD. I, like so many others, have confused the context of this word when referenced in the Bible. When I started my deeper study of Hebrew and ancient text and customs, I began to see where I and many others had gone wrong, where our ignorance floundered. Fear of God is not the same fear that we equate to punishment and horror but rather an awestruck awareness of our connection with a Force that makes our existence possible; it’s the realization that you are in the presence of the One who created you, that you have a relationship with your Potter, and through every element that makes you you, there is an alignment with Him. And it’s that alignment that helps us avoid doing the work of the enemy.

Why do we struggle with this understanding?

We struggle because we misunderstand the words and actions of love, faithfulness, atonement, fear, and evil. We struggle because we don’t think we’re worthy of God’s promises and a loving and nurturing relationship with Him. We have chosen to think and act for God, assuming that there’s no way He does or would love and commit to us in the same way or greater, and we choose to assume both our role and His in this relationship. We see our sins, and our hearts sink with shame and signal to the mind to operate from this state of lack, and we make decisions that temporarily serve the enemy’s plans instead of God’s eternal plans. There is no love in shame or shame in love. There is no shame in faithfulness or faithfulness in shame. You can’t possibly carry around shame while fully embracing the allness of God’s presence, power, and love in your life. It is the trick of the enemy that convinces you that you are not worthy, not good enough, and not truly loved and valued by God. The enemy needs you to believe these lies so that you walk farther away from God’s path and closer to the enemy’s pit.

The enemy needs you to choose and declare a life that rejects the relationship with God so that you will, at some point, vow your soul to that side. The enemy is patient. There have been thousands of years of studying and manipulating humankind, and for every moment you have lived your life in your current body, the enemy has studied and tried to manipulate you. The enemy wants you to choose hate over love, indifference over love, recklessness over faithfulness, and noncommitment over faithfulness. And whenever you think and speak of and to God, the enemy wants you to choose contempt over awe. The enemy doesn’t want you to glorify God. The enemy wants you to disappoint, enrage, and break God’s heart. Your sins can be atoned for. You can avoid evil. Trust God, the One who created and heals your heart and mind.

Prayer

Father I pray that in my daily walk that I demonstrate my love, respect, and honor for You. I hope that you feel the fullness and not the lack. Through my love and faithfulness I pray and believe that my sins have been and will be atoned, and I will be completely at-one with You. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. Amen.

And with that family, I pray that you are blessed, that you see and embrace your blessings, and that you are a blessing to others.

Love always,

Natasha

Copyright 2011-2023. Natasha L. Foreman. Some Rights Reserved. All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha L. Foreman. BreakingBreadWithNatasha.com

Music: Climb by Shane Ivers; Quiescent In Time by Shane Ivers – https://www.silvermansound.com

Breaking Bread For 1.26.22

Scripture

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.

Proverbs 16:6

Reflection

How much clearer can this be? As long as we are loving, and faithful to God, His plan, His Kingdom, and His son— our sins are atoned. 

By respecting Him and fearing that we will disappoint Him we can avoid evil and evil doing. Amazing how plainly it is explained to us. Isn’t it? Yet why do many of us still struggle?

Prayer

Father I love, respect, and honor You. Through my love and faithfulness I pray my sins will be atoned, and I will be completely at-one with You. Thank You for Your grace. Amen. 

Lovingly,

Natasha

Copyright 2011-2022. Natasha L. Foreman. Some Rights Reserved.
All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha L. Foreman. BreakingBreadWithNatasha.com

Breaking Bread For 1.26.2021

Scripture

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.

Proverbs 16:6 NIV

Reflection

How much clearer can this be? As long as we love (are loving, and are receptive to love), and faithful to God, His plan, and His son Jesus— our sins are atoned. I’ve gotten in the habit of searching for the Hebrew translations and then finding the meaning and context of Hebrew words, both in ancient and modern times. Most people hear and say “Fear of God” and what has been associated with that is the horror that comes from fearing His judgment and our death. We only obey because we fear punishment. That is one part of seeing this. We shouldn’t want to be punished. However, we’re also missing the bigger picture. We’re also missing how the Hebrew text was written, putting emphasis on the nouns and their placement, lets you know what they meant by fear, in context such as Proverbs 16:6.

Our Father doesn’t want us to be horrified of Him, because our relationship would be constantly strained. When we heard His voice we would assume something bad was going to happen, we must have done something wrong. Panic would set in. We would scramble and try to hide, fearing punishment. We would also find ourselves constantly getting into trouble, trying not to get in trouble. Think of what children do who have a parent or guardian who is seen as the punisher,  the children don’t get into less trouble, they tend to mess up more out of fear, trauma, and confusion. Yes, God disciplines. He is our Heavenly Parent. We are supposed to be corrected when we do wrong. But God is also tender, gentle, caring, nurturing, sympathetic, has mercy and leads with grace.

To Fear the Lord, God, is to have the highest level of awe, reverence, esteem, respect, and submission to Him. To fear Him is to believe and live as though there is nothing and no one greater than He. We are to see Him as “I Am”, beginning and end, and all that is in between. That is why we are called to fear and obey Him. By respecting and obeying Him, we also have a strong desire to not disappoint Him and hurt His heart. Listening, obeying, submitting to, and supporting Him demonstrates our love, and through these things we can avoid falling to the traps of evil. Oftentimes we think we’re doing good and right, but we’re not. We don’t ask God beforehand. We pray to Him to fix it, to save us, after we have committed the act. Our support in God supports us—that is the circle of faith. We can free ourselves from the shackles of self-righteousness and be released in knowing that only God determines what is right, just, and fair. That is a beautiful reality that many of us think of embracing while not all of us do. Reflecting upon all of this, what decision will you make beginning today? How do you see God? What type of relationship would you like to have with God?

Prayer

Father I love, respect, and honor You. I hope that my daily walk demonstrates this. I hope that You feel and see it. I hope that to You, these are not just words that I’m casually speaking to gain favor. There is no me without You, life is only what You make it, and death is everything You are not. Through my love and faithfulness I pray that my sins will be atoned. I know that You have forgiven me, however, I want to be completely at-one with You. I want to walk in total alignment with You, not just as someone pardoned to run off and keep sinning. I want to be where You want me to be, stride for stride, with You. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. In Jesus’ name I praise You. Amen.

Lovingly,

Natasha

Copyright 2011-2021. Natasha L. Foreman. Some Rights Reserved.
All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha L. Foreman. BreakingBreadWithNatasha.com

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 12.15.14

Love and faithfulness reconcile guilt; the fear of the Lord turns away evil.

Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭6‬ CEB

Pray
Keep me with You Father. Keep Your Word in my mind and on my heart always, rebuking those who would have me go against Your Word to satisfy their wants and desires. Strengthen me Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Reflection
When we turn inwards towards God we are protected from outside influences that would lead us towards evil, and towards a life of guilt and regret. Hold on tight to God’s Word. It can comfort you even in the worst of times.

Read the passage again but this time slowly, and break it down into segments. It begins with “love and faithfulness”. It’s not one or the other, it’s both. The fear of the Lord, which is our deepest love and obedience of Him, is what keeps evil at bay. If you are showing through action that you are committed and obedient to God, evil has no room to get into your life and cause confusion and chaos. Evil has no choice but to keep walking down the street.

Questions of the Day
1. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read today’s scripture?
2. What would you like to add to today’s prayer and/or reflection?

Feel free to share your answers, prayers, comments, and reflections in the comment section below. You can also send me an email at: breakingbreadwithnatasha@gmail.com

Please also feel free to share this post with others. We’re never quite sure who needs to hear and see what, and when! It would be awesome if whenever you run across a prayer, message, or scripture that moves you, you would kindly share it with the rest of us. You can post it on this blog or send me an email.

Love always,
Natasha

Copyright 2013-2014. Natasha Foreman Bryant. Some Rights Reserved. All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha Foreman Bryant, unless otherwise noted. Prior posts from 2009-2013 are copyrighted under the name Natasha L. Foreman. breakingbreadwithnatasha.com

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible,
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.(www.Lockman.org)

Scripture taken from the Common English Bible®, CEB® Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The “CEB” and “Common English Bible” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Common English Bible.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.